Circuit rider (religious)

A district riders (English circuit rider ) was a Methodist minister in the early years of the United States, who toured the area assigned to him for his preaching on horseback.

District riders mainly occurred during the period of colonization of the American West 1790-1840 and included as a preacher, for example, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Your service that they provided at great personal sacrifice, had its focus in the mission or revival of the settlers. The sermon districts had an area of ​​up to 500 miles, so a district riders between four and six weeks needed for a round. From the converts gained through this work called "classes" were formed, in which from now on the spiritual life was maintained.

1782 there were 82 district riders, 71 of them were unmarried. Nearly half of the 737 district Horsemen of the years 1784 to 1844, died before age 30.

A famous district riders was the decisively involved in the outbreak of the Second Great Awakening Peter Cartwright, who reported on his activities in two autobiographies.

The American author Edward Eggleston put the district riders with his work, The Circuit Rider: A Tale of the Heroic Age, in which he processed their own experiences, a monument.